Thanks again to Terry Hanstock and David Turner for contributions. Although all URLs are checked shortly before publication, occasionally websites unaccountably disappear.
Contributions, comments and info welcome – my email address is
Secrecy, censorship FOI and released records
- Freedom of Information Draft Bill http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/foi/dfoibill.htm
- Link to the draft FOI Bill (May 1999) and FOI Unit; summary; brief guide. Has 21 categories of exempted information. Considerably weaker in many respects than the White Paper of Dec 1997, and will remain so, despite the announcement (Oct 99) of concessions by Home Sec. Jack Straw (see below). Criticised by Ctees of both Houses of Commons and Lords.
The Commons Select Committee on Public Administration’s critical report on the FOI Draft Bill (July 1999) is at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199899/cmselect/ cmpubadm/570/57002.htm ‘We believe the present form of the Bill has significant deficiencies which, if not remedied, will undermine the potential.’ The Freedom of Information Bill, November 1999 is at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199900/cmbills/005/ 2000005.htm - Campaign For Freedom of Information
http://www.cfoi.org.uk/ - Response to the draft Bill (www.cfoi.org.uk/draftbill240599pr.html): ‘Deeply disappointing’ and ‘in key areas the Bill is weaker than the Conservatives’ Openness Code’. Criticisms include: Safety info can be classified as top secret; it replaces the Code’s public interest test by a voluntary test; it replaces the WP’s ‘substantial harm’ test with a lower ‘prejudice’ test; it contains ‘catch-all’ exemptions allowing info to be refused without real evidence of any harm; it rejects the Macpherson report’s recommendations that all police info should be covered by the bill; the Commissioner will not have power to compel disclosure.
Despite Straw’s concessions, announced Oct 1999, there will still be ‘substantial defects’ in the proposals. Commissioner can recommend disclosure of info, but ministers and authorities would not be forced to comply; and in key areas, ministers would not be compelled to disclose info; exempt info may be disclosed in the public interest – but ministers decide public interest. (www.cfoi.org.uk/govresp221099pr.html) A Bill is expected in the 1999-2000 Parliamentary session – watch this website for up-to-date information.
- US Dept of Justice, Office of Information and Privacy
http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/ - The OIP manages the Departmental responsibilities related to the US Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act. Links to OIP FOIA documents including the DOJ Guide to the FOIA, the OIP FOIA homepage and FOIA Updates (see below)
- DoJ FOIA Reference Guide May 1999
http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/04_3.html - How and where to make US FOIA requests; fee waivers; appeals.
- FOIA Update
http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/foia_updates/Vol_XIX_2/xix2page3.htm - Spring 1998 US FOIA Update, listing all Federal agencies with addresses and phone numbers of FOIA Administrative and Legal contacts; essential for making US FOIA requests.
- US Dept of State Electronic Reading Room
http://foia.state.gov/ - ‘The FOIA was recently amended by the Electronic FOIA Amendments of 1996, which, among other things, grants the public access to govt documents via computer telecoms… in response to the requirements of the E-FOIA the Dept has established an FOIA Electronic Reading Room on the internet’.
Provides reference points for State Dept records and info access programs.’Displays frequently-requested documents released under FOIA and special interest collections of continuing public interest (Guatemala collection, El Salvador collection, Raoul Wallenberg, CIA creation docs). New material includes the Chile Declassification Project – documents released by CIA, FBI, NARA and Depts of Defense, Justice and State, detailing human rights abuses and terrorism in Chile, mainly 1968-72, also 1973-8. Can search database and download documents in Pdf. Policy Statements; Administrative Rulings and manuals; Links.
- Federal Government Resources on the Web
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/federal.html - A lot of US Govt-related info, including:
- Agency directories and websites – links to many US govt sources of info, including the US Govt Manual (the official handbook of the US Federal Govt, with comprehensive info on govt agencies and related organisations www.access.gpo.gov/nara/browse-gm.html)
- Executive Orders – Presidential EOs, and Intelligence docs – EOs related to intelligence activities.
- Historic Documents, including Cold War, Cold War International History Project (http://cwihp.si.edu/default.htm), Cuban Missile Crisis (full text of 250 official govt docs at Avalon Project: www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/diplomacy/forrelcuba/cubamenu.htm) and the Inspector-General’s Survey of the Cuban Operations (Nat Security Archive: www.gwu.edu/ ~nsarchiv/news/ 19980222.htm), the IG’s scathing 1961 critique on the CIA handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion, withheld for 36 years. Gulf War – Washington Post’s coverage; analysis; declassified docs: (www.washingtonpost.com/wpsrv/inatl/long term/fogofwar/fogofwar.htm) Impeachment – documents and the impeachment process; Korean War (national archives); WWI, WWII and Vietnamese War 1945-75. (Vietnam War Internet Project (www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/shwv/shwvhome.html)
- CIA – Electronic Document Release Center
http://www.foia.ucia.gov/ - Includes electronic access to previously released documents: Popular Document Collection (Bay of Pigs reports; Atomic Spies-Rosenbergs; Oleg Penkovsky; Gary Powers; POW/MIA; Guatemala – chronicles CIA involvement in the 1954 coup; Human Rights in Latin America; UFOs).
Your Rights – Public Rights of Access to CIA info, including the FOIA and electronic FOIA amendment; the Privacy Act; E.O. 12958 which provides for the review of classified docs and access on a limited basis for historians and former presidential appointees.
Legal Issues – info about court decisions involving the CIA’s administration of the public access laws, such as the FOIA, and general news on these laws.
Historical Review Program (voluntary declassification prog focusing on records of historical value) includes intelligence analyses of former Soviet Union.
- NSA’s Declassification Page
http://www.nsa.gov:8080/programs/opendoor/ - NSA’s declassification project, OPENDOOR, will include info about all documents declassified and made available to the public under the provisions of EO 12958. Initial index contains over 1 million pp of previously classified historic cryptologic documents from pre WWI to end of WWII. Declassified documents are released to NARA
- National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
http://www.nara.gov/ - Federal agency which oversees management of all Federal records ‘to ensure ready access to the essential evidence that documents the rights of American citizens, the actions of Federal officials, and the national experience.’ Includes research guides and catalogues; details of NARA’s holdings; NARA’s Electronic Access Project plans to develop an online catalogue of all NARA holdings, plus digital copies of some docs; cornerstone docs of US govt – US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights.
- National Security Archive
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ - Situated at George Washington university, the NSA is a research institute on internal affairs; a library and archive of declassified US documents obtained through FOIA; a public interest law firm defending and expanding public access to govt info through the FOIA; and an indexer and publisher of the documents in book, microfiche and electronic format. The NSA was founded in 1985 by journalists and scholars who sought a centralised repository for documentation obtained through FOIA. Online info includes Electronic Briefing Books (including the CIA and assassinations; Contras, cocaine and covert ops; the death of Che Guevara; India and Pakistan on the nuclear threshold; Tiananmen Square 1989; Guatemalan ‘death squad dossier’; Chile and the US – declassified docs – see below); US Nuclear Policy and Technology; US-Japan relations; FOIA sample request and appeal letters.
Chile and the US – declassified documents, including docs relating to the military coup Sept 11 1973 (www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/nsaebb8i.htm) Includes FBI docs on Operation Condor (the state-sponsored anti-left terrorism of the Chilean secret police, DINA) including evidence on the car bomb assassination of Orlando Letelier in Washington; National Security Council strategy papers recording efforts to destabilise Chile economically and isolate Allende’s govt diplomatically between 1970-73.
In a document dated October 16 1970, CIA deputy director of plans, Thomas Karamessines, conveys Kissinger’s orders in a cable, to the CIA station chief in Santiago: ‘it is firm and continuing policy that Allende be overthrown by a coup. It would be much preferable to have this transpire prior to 24 October….we are to continue to generate maximum pressure towards this end utilising every appropriate resource. It is imperative that these actions be implemented clandestinely and securely so that the USG and American Hand be well hidden…’ (www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB8/ch05-01.htm)
‘Deathsquad Dossier’ and relevant declassified documents from the NSA’s Guatemala Collection. (www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB15/press.html); Tiananmen Square 1989, the Declassified History. A collection of recently declassified documents covering 4 decades of US-China relations. Declassified CIA, State, NSC Documents on Chile. 20,000 pages of US docs on Chile 1973-8 released, ‘the bloodiest years of the repression’. A selection is available on the website (www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/news/19990630.htm)
- Secret No More
http://www.newstrench.com/01secret/01secret.htm - Subject guide to thousands of FBI files of historical, social or journalistic interest, compiled by Michael J. Ravnitzky from FOIA requests. All files are publicly accessible, and are listed under name, eg Kennedy, and file numbers, which facilitates FOIA requests for the docs.
- The Irish War
http://jya.com/irish-war.htm - The chapter of Tony Geraghty’s book which describes the covert war and computer surveillance methods used in Northern Ireland, and for which Geraghty was charged under the Official Secrets Act in May 1999 – though the book’s still on sale.
- Association of Investigative Journalists
http://www.aij-uk.com/ - AIJ aims to promote investigative journalism and help counter its decline in the UK; to encourage training in, provide resources for and an outlet for the work of investigative journalists.
Intelligence
- Loyola Homepage on Strategic Intelligence
http://www.loyola.edu/dept/politics/intel.html - Extensive links on intelligence: Intelligence Community and other US govt intelligence related servers; International Links on Strategic Intelligence; Organisations; Related Documents (eg US Govt, Congressional and GAO intelligence reports); journals, articles; historical interest (Bay of Pigs, Cuban Missile Crisis, NSA Venona Prog, Satellite images, CIA reports and briefings); Declassified records (CIA, DIA, State dept, Nat Archives etc); Historical Espionage (eg Venona prog) and SIGINT (eg Bletchley, Enigma); Other historical docs (MI5 and SOE); Ames Affair; debates and controversy (eg CIA as economic spy, budget of the IC, drug smuggling and the CIA).
- US Military Intelligence Sites
http://www.loyola.edu/dept/politics/milintel.html - ‘This is an unofficial website for researchers, students, and interested browsers…’ Huge resource of US military, defense and intelligence websites: the DoD in the Intelligence Community; DoD directives; Other Military pages; C4I; Organisations; Historical Reference Sites and Research Aids (eg Oval office audio recordings during Cuban Missile Crisis, codebreaking and secret weapons in WWII, Pearl Harbour intelligence reports and docs).
- US Intelligence Community
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/libraries/indiv/dsc/intell.html - Columbia University Libraries’ Documents Service Center: ‘This is a selective guide to resources at Columbia University Libraries and on the internet, for conducting research on US government agencies involved in intelligence activities, the classification and declassification of govt documents related to intelligence activities, and FOIA requests..’
Extensive intelligence resource. Includes Background Info (books on intelligence); Bibliographies, Indexes and Abstracts (including CIS Index to the Publications of the US Congress – a comprehensive index, with abstracts, to Congressional publications); Periodicals, with links (CAQ, Intelligence Online, JED (Journal of Electronic Defence) Online, Secrecy and Govt Bulletin, Sources e-journal); Intelligence Reform (eg to FAS project on Intelligence Reform and other links); Congressional Oversight of intelligence (eg docs related to appropriations for intelligence activities, legislation, and Congressional C’tees); Classified/Declassified Documents (links eg to CIA Electronic Document Release Center, Cold War International History Project, Declassified Advisory Panels, Declassified Info – texts of EOs for declassification and weblinks, National Security Archive, NARA); FOIA (eg Citizen’s Guide to using the FOIA, and information and guides to the FOIA by the Nat Security Archive, Justice Dept and ACLU, Electronic Freedom Foundation’s FOIA and Open Govt Archive); Information Specific to an Agency (CIA, Nat Security Council, Nat Security Agency, DIA, FBI etc);
Other Web Resources on intelligence, including the Federation of American Scientists (www.fas.org/irp/) and Stratfor (www.stratfor.com) an open-source intelligence-based internet news service, which provides business and regional intelligence (economic, social, political, military), with in-depth reports/ analysis, such as Global Intelligence Update – analytic reports on events of geopolitical, economic and military importance. - Center for the Study of Intelligence
http://www.odci.gov/csi/index.html - CSI conducts research on intelligence, publishes the ‘Studies in Intelligence’ journal and manages the systematic declassification review of historically valuable CIA records. Recent records include CIA and the U2 prog 1954-74; CIA and the Vietnam policymakers; Venona.
- Inside News Links
http://www.inside-news.ch/linksshaylergate.html - Inside News is a press agency specialising in economic and technical news, particularly relating to the military, police, and intelligence. Includes search engines and reference sites on intelligence, human rights and press freedom; official and unofficial intelligence service sites;
human rights and press freedom sites; newsgroups. Includes Richard Tomlinson’s May 1999 declaration to French magistrate on the death of Princess Diana (www.inside-news.ch/Tomlinson/Tomlinson_deposition.htm) and the list of MI6 officers (www.inside-news.ch/Tomlinson/List/Liste_Alpha.htm). - Echelon Watch
http://www.echelonwatch.org - http://www.aclu.org/echelonwatch/index.html
- Website administered by the American Civil Liberties Union in conjunction with EPIC and the Omega Foundation, which produced the Appraisal of Technologies for Political Control, includes links to both this report and the more recent IC 2000 report (May 1999) by Duncan Campbell. These reports have led to enquiries in both the European Parliament and the US Congress, where the Intelligence Authorisation Bill would require the NSA to submit, within 60 days of enactment, a report detailing the legal standards the agencies use when eavesdropping on US citizens with electronic surveillance systems such as Echelon. Many Echelon links also at www.wodip.opole.pl/~laslo/Echelon-links.html
- Campaign to Close Menwith Hill Spy Base
http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyorks/mhs/index.htm - MH activities; history; the campaign to close it; byelaws and related judgements.
- Campaign For Accountability of American Bases
http://www.gn.apc.org/cndyorks/caab/index.htm - Produced by Lindis Percy and Anni. Campaign activities, injunctions, and dispute over validity of the Menwith byelaws. In Oct 1999 a claim (writ) was issued in the High Court to seek an injunction to stop the building of two new radomes for the Space Based Infra Red System (SBIRS), part of the US National Missile Defense System, or ‘son of Star Wars’, accused of breaching the 1972 ABM Treaty.
Information warfare
- Wynn Schwartau’s Infowar.Com
http://www.infowar.com - Class I Privacy; Class II Espionage; Class III Terrorism; Electronic Civil Defence; Hacker Musings; Information Operations; Legal Issues; Military and C4I; Products and Services; Resources; Tools and Utilities; Crypto; Internet Security; Viruses; y2k; President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.
- FAS Guide to Info Warfare Resources
http://www.fas.org/irp/wwwinfo.html - ‘A comprehensive guide to information warfare resources on the web.’ Extensive resource on IW.
- Institute for the Advanced Study of Info Warfare
http://www.psycom.net/iwar.1.html - Extensive links: computer crime; viruses; encryption; Echelon; EM radiation; information security; infrastructure protection; MK Ultra; psychotronic and RF weapons; remote viewing; Tempest; EMP; y2k.
- DOD recognizes info warfare as key battlefield
http://www.fcw.com/pubs/fcw/1998/1130/web-infowar-12-2-98.html - Reports the US military’s endorsement of a new Information Operations doctrine, approved in October 1998, which ‘raises information warfare to the same importance as the three traditional battlegrounds – air, land and sea….and treats cyberspace as something akin to a physical space that has become a critical environment.’
- Critical Infrastructure Protection
http://www.epic.org/security/infowar/resources.html - EPIC,(Electronic Privacy Information Center) in its assessment of the 1987 PCCIP (President’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection) report, says “The most recent dangers to civil
liberties come from the new-found threat to our nation’s infrastructure..almost every solution proposed by the Commission represents some new expansion of govt authority and some new encroachment into personal liberty..” (‘Critical Infrastructure Protection and the Endangerment of Civil Liberties’,Oct 1998). Clinton’s Directive calls for the Federal Govt to produce a Plan to protect critical infrastructure (www.epic.org/security/infowar/nat_plan.html) - Psyops Operations in Bosnia
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/milrev/English/DecFeb99/adams.htm - By Lt Col Thomas K. Adams, US Army, Rtd, details airborne psychological broadcast missions using the US Air Force EC-130E Commando Solo aircraft (Commando Solo fact sheet at www.state.pa.us/PA_Exec/Military_Affairs/air_national/corsolo.htm) which ‘proved its worth many times in operations from Haiti to Bosnia’. Information-Age Psychological Operations, by Cmdr Randall G. Bowdish, US Navy, is at www-cgsc.army.mil/milrev/English/DecFeb99 /bowdish.htm
Misc
- The Consortium
http://www.consortiumnews.com/ - Respected web-based investigative ‘zine run by Robert Parry whose recent book is reviewed in this issue of Lobster. News stories; archives; books. Readers can contribute by becoming a ‘factfinder’ and lobbying for answers to public interest matters including ‘October Surprise’ and the CIA-contra-cocaine connection.
- In These Times
http://www.inthesetimes.com/ - An ‘alternative’ magazine, covering environment, politics and other issues. ‘For the second year in a row, Project Censored has awarded Chicago-based In These Times top honours in its annual ranking of the year’s most under-reported stories….ITT editor, Joel Bleifuss…was awarded first place this year for his investigation into the MAI.’
- The Truth about Pinochet
http://www.lakota.clara.net/ - Website operated by journalists which counters the claims of Pinochet’s supporters. ‘Because of the contentious nature of the material we publish we check each source and allegation very carefully.’ Includes details of: legal hearings; Chilean and British victims; the disappeared; Judge Garzon’s charges; Legal pages; the dictatorship years; the camps; the perpetrators. Library of declassified US govt documents (relating to Letelier killing, Operation Condor, the DINA etc)
- Corporate Europe Observatory
EU Discussion Paper on Trade and Investment
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/ - CEO monitors the political activities of European corporations and lobby groups, publishes a quarterly newsletter and briefings on issues. Includes leaked document from the EU Commission for an expert Ctee of the EU Council, dated 15/12/98 (almost 2 weeks after closure of the MAI negotiations in the OECD), and revealing attempts to push an MAI-like investment agreement in the WTO (‘millennium round’ of negotiations) (http://www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/mai/eu/). A special issue of CEO on the WTO, July 1999, focuses on the role of the EU in global trade politics (www.xs4all.nl/~ceo/observer4/index.html)
- Smoking Gun
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/ - “The Smoking Gun brings you exclusive documents…that can’t be found elsewhere on the Web. Using material obtained from govt and law enforcement sources, via FOI requests, and from court files nationwide, we guarantee everything here is 100% authentic”. Emphasis on high-profile people/celebrities.